Wednesday, April 1, 2015

A Public Health Message - Fear Kills

According to the U.N.'s exhaustive report on Chernobyl, the immediate death-toll was less than 60 (contrast this to most of the media reports which had it somewhere in the 15,000 to 30,000 ballpark) and the long-term death toll was less than 4,000 (CNN initially speculated 500,000). They also stated that the greatest damage to health had absolutely nothing to do with radiation and everything to do with the bad information and scare-mongering that came from various governments, media outlets, and pressure groups; information that ultimately produced fear, anxiety, depression, and manifest physical ailments.......Yes, folks, Chernobyl was a terrible tragedy but it was hardly a Hiroshima or Nagasaki, and the fact that it was likely the worst case scenario possible in what was probably one of the worst facilities on the globe leads me to think that folks in positions of authority absolutely need to be more responsible in the future.